Monthly Archives: December 2018

Chillin’ in the Desert

We packed up and pulled out of Mission Bay RV Resort last Friday. I packed most of the stuff that needed to go to the trailer Thursday afternoon. I also pumped up the air pressure on the coach tires. The trailer tires were low from sitting for the past three months – it’s not unusual for tires to lose up to a few pounds of pressure per month. The smaller the tire, the greater the pressure loss generally. I waited until we brought the coach to the trailer to air up the trailer tires – there wasn’t an electrical outlet near the trailer, so I plugged the air compressor into the coach.

By the time I had the trailer tires aired up and loaded the Spyder, it 11:45am when we finally hit the road. We made the familiar trip east on I-8 over Laguna Summit. We usually make a stop at the Buckman Springs rest area for a lunch break, but I continued on this time to the Golden Acorn Casino at the Crestwood Summit. The Golden Acorn has a truck stop and better fuel prices than most places in San Diego. I only pumped 20 gallons to make sure we had plenty to run the generator. The generator will not run if the fuel tank is below 1/4 full. I paid $3.75/gallon there.

We made our way to our boondocking spot for the night off of Ogilby Road near the Imperial sand dunes. It was cold and windy out – much colder than I expected. There were many rigs at the dunes – weekenders with their sand toys. The wind was gusting over 20mph, so we didn’t see many people out – everyone was hunkering down. I shot a photo near sundown – you can see how much dust was in the air from the wind.

Boondocking in our little piece of desert
Desert dust at sunset

Saturday morning we hit the road again. We lost an hour as we crossed the Colorado River into Arizona – it’s Mountain Standard Time in Arizona at this time of year. We stopped in Yuma at Fortuna Road – exit 12. I wanted to buy some water filter cartridges and Tank Techs Rx holding tank treatment at my favorite RV store – Al’s RV and Marine. To my consternation, Al’s RV and Marine store was nothing but an empty storefront. Flyers for specials were still on display in the windows, but it was locked up tight and nothing but bare floor inside. We crossed to the north side of I-8 to the Pilot/Flying J travel center and topped up our fuel tank. Diesel fuel here was $2.95/gallon – 80 cents per gallon less than what I paid in California!

Driving east on I-8 between Tacna and Dateland, I spied a column of black smoke rising a few miles ahead. I told Donna it looked like something was burning on or next to the interstate. I hoped it wasn’t a vehicle. As we got closer, we saw a cargo trailer on the shoulder of the highway and flames shooting 20 feet into the air in front of it. As we passed by, we saw a white Chevy SUV – a Tahoe I think – fully engulfed in flames. People were standing in the desert about 30 feet away from it and a few cars had pulled to a stop ahead of it. It didn’t appear that anyone was hurt. We could feel the searing heat from the fire as we passed it in the left lane. The driver of the car in front of me was gawking and suddenly slowed – a dangerous move that had me braking. The trailer wasn’t burning as we passed, but the heat was intense and it was the middle of nowhere. I figured it would be a while before any fire fighters could respond. About 15 minutes later, I saw a firetruck on the westbound lanes heading toward the fire.

Our next stop was the Ak-Chin Harrahs Casino in Maricopa. We planned to dry camp overnight there and have a short hop to Mesa Sunday morning. The casino offers free RV parking in the back lot where buses park. The lot is fairly level and surprisingly quiet.

We went into the casino to check out a couple of their restaurants. One offered small dishes – appetizer style plates. The other was a buffet and Saturday night was seafood night. We opted for the buffet at $32/person. Like most buffets I’ve experienced, the food was mediocre but there was lots of it!

We left the casino Sunday morning around 10am. We had an uneventful drive to Viewpoint RV and Golf Resort in Mesa. I’d forgotten about the offices being closed on weekends. We checked in with the security and were escorted to our site. I had reserved site 5245 where we stayed the past two years. I unloaded the Spyder and Donna directed me into the site to drop the trailer. We’ve gotten pretty good at this – the security guy seemed to think we were in for trouble but it went without a hitch.

We were set up in no time and I had NFL football on in time to catch the second quarter of the early games. What a crazy season. The Chargers finished at 12-4 but have to settle for the wildcard spot as the fifth seed. Meanwhile 10-6 wins the division in the east. Sheesh.

The temperature dropped below 40 overnight – it was cold in the coach this morning. We’ve had the heat pumps on since we got out of bed. We don’t mind it when the coach is cool while we’re under our blankets and down comforter, but once we rise, we want comfortable temperatures. The heat pumps have been doing a great job and it’s a comfortable 72 degrees inside while the wind is blowing and it’s only 51 outside. This cold snap will probably last until the weekend. Next week is forecast to have highs of 70 degrees. Nice!

We had invitations to a couple of New Year’s gatherings tonight, but Donna is feeling a little run down and it’s supposed to be a rainy night, so we’ll just be party poopers and stay in.

Last Weekend

Last weekend was our last weekend here in San Diego – for this trip. We had a great time driving up to Carson with Gary and Brian. Gary has season tickets for the Chargers and we went to the penultimate game of the regular season. Traffic through San Diego’s North County was heavier than expected, but once we got past Oceanside, we moved along without much slowing.

We arrived at Stub Hub Center a little past 2pm – time for some tailgate action.

Donna and her new friend at Thunder Alley

Tailgating at Stub Hub is a blast. There’s a section called Thunder Alley where people set up bars and of course there are dueling stereo systems. Everyone is grilling something. Gary really went to town on the grill and cooked a chateaubriand that was out of this world. This is the most tender cut of beef and the flavor was wonderful. I wish I had a picture of it.

We got to our seats just in time for the kickoff. The seats were only five rows up from the field in the corner of the end zone – close to the action!

Seats close to the action

We had a fun time although the Chargers didn’t prevail. Donna volunteered for designated driver duty on the way home. She drove us to Gary’s house in Clairemont and we took an Uber ride home from there.

Donna took care of her sister’s dog Sunday afternoon, Monday and Tuesday. She made two trips each day to Sheila’s place to walk, water and feed her dog, Bandit. On Christmas morning, it was raining here. Donna took an Uber ride up to La Jolla to avoid riding the Spyder in the rain. She had a nice walk with Bandit up there though.

View to the north from Hillside Drive in La Jolla – the cliffs at Torrey Pines and Black’s Beach are in the background

Tuesday was Christmas Day and lucky for us, the rain moved out around 1:30pm – just in time for us to join our neighbors Larry and Brenda along with Brenda’s son, Mike. We met Larry and Brenda here a few years ago. They’re from Louisiana and we really enjoy visiting with them. They invited us to join them for Christmas dinner.

Larry cooked a turkey in a deep fat fryer.

Turkey submerged in 300 degree boiling vegetable oil

We had several side dishes and Donna made a stuffing that featured chestnuts. The meal and company were excellent. I had a Belgian Trappist ale with dinner – Chimay Grande Reserve.

Belgian Trappist ale
Christmas dinner spread

Donna made baked pears with cinnamon and chopped walnuts served ala mode for dessert.

We sat and chatted until 6:30pm or so – the time flew by.

After pickleball at the Ocean Beach recreation center on Wednesday, I had to get busy. I’ve been putting off the installation of new tie-down rings in the trailer. Two of the old ones pulled out and I needed to make the repair to secure the Spyder in the trailer. I found what I needed at Ace Hardware in Pacific Beach and got it done Wednesday afternoon. Donna packed away the Christmas decorations. She stores them deep in the center of the basement compartment since she only needs to access them once a year.

Last night, Donna made chicken Gabriella for dinner and served it with roasted Brussel sprouts and brown rice. After dinner, I was puffing on a cigar outside when a police helicopter flew over Grand Avenue. I could clearly hear an announcement over the public address system – they were searching for suspect dressed in a black sweater and black pants.

Chicken Gabriella

Tomorrow we’ll pull out of here. I’m looking forward to a couple of quiet nights in the desert after three months of city life. Then we’ll check in at Viewpoint in Mesa, Arizona for another dose of life in the city.

Almost Christmas

Three more days until Christmas! Donna’s been a little more festive than I. My week was mostly low key with the usual activities – mainly pickleball. On Monday night, Donna went with her sister, Sheila, and a group of Sheila’s friends to a Dave Koz Christmas Concert at Balboa Theater. She had a great time, but these things really aren’t my cup of tea. I stayed home and watched Monday Night Football.

I met with Dan Cullen, my friend and attorney, a couple of times this week. He’s updating my step-dad’s trust paperwork and making some financial arrangements for us. Our meeting last weekend with my step-dad, Ken, and my brother Eddie went well and we understand Ken’s wishes.

Donna has become quite the grill-master. The Weber Q used to be strictly my domain, but Donna has found she enjoys grilling. On Wednesday, she had a hankering for steaks, so she grilled a couple of New York strips and served them with sauteed mushrooms, grilled veggies and a baked potato topped with chives from her traveling herb garden.

Steak smothered in mushrooms with grilled veggies and baked potato

She followed that up on Thursday with wild sockeye salmon on the grill served with grilled bok choy, shishito peppers and cauliflower risotto. Yummy.

Grilled salmon, bok choy, shishito peppers and cauliflower risotto

Friday was the winter solstice – the days will start getting longer from here. It was also a full moon and meteor showers were predicted. It wasn’t to be here at Mission Bay – we had one of the rare cloud filled nights – I couldn’t see the moon or stars.

Friday night, Donna went to a Christmas cookie exchange party at Sheila’s house. Donna had been baking cookies all afternoon and they exchanged cookies at the party. We have a pantry full of cookies now.

Today my friend, Gary Stemple, will pick us up after lunch for a trip up to Carson in Los Angeles County – about 110 miles from Mission Bay. We’re going to the Chargers game – Chargers vs Baltimore Ravens. The game kicks off at 5:20pm, but we plan to have a few hours of food and drink tailgating before the kick-off. Gary is a season ticket holder and he has four great seats – he’s been generous with them. Donna volunteered to be designated driver for the trip home.

We have one week left in our stay here at Mission Bay RV Resort – we’ll pull out on Friday. I made reservations to return in April for a month, then we’ll come back again next fall. I booked three months – it’s getting harder every year to book a long-term stay here. They are about sold out for next fall/winter already.

SSA, ACA and Trust

Only ten days left until Christmas! The time flies by – especially when I only post once a week or so. We’ll pull out of San Diego a few days after Christmas and unwind in the desert for a couple of nights before we head to Mesa, Arizona. I still have a couple of projects to complete before we head out.

The good news this week is, I got a raise! My first direct deposit from the Social Security Administration hit my account on Wednesday – the first raise I’ve had in six years. The bad news this week is, it’s the deadline for health insurance under Obamacare. What a debacle that is for someone in our age and income bracket. In our domicile state, South Dakota, anyone whose household gross income exceeds about $64,000 won’t qualify for subsidized health care. Health insurance for a family of two in our age group you can expect to pay a minimum of around $1,600/month on the government exchange for a high deductible policy that doesn’t cover anything but emergency care outside of South Dakota.

In essence, the folks that came up with Obamacare reasoned that anyone with an income level above the $64,000 threshold will pay exorbitant premiums to make up for the subsidies given to others. With the end of tax penalties in 2019 for not purchasing a policy from the exchange, we opted out this year. Instead of using an Affordable Care Act – what an oxymoron – policy we purchased a private short-term healthcare policy that gives us much better coverage for a third of the cost of anything Obamacare had to offer.

On Mondays, I usually make a late afternoon stop at Dan Diego’s to have a cold one with the guys. My go-to ale there is Duvel Belgian Golden Ale – I love this stuff. I have one, then usually follow up with a PBR before heading home for dinner. 

Duvel Golden Ale

I came home Monday just in time to catch a fiery sunset over low tide on Mission Bay.

Sunset at low tide

Last week, Donna made another new dish. It was dry-rubbed BBQ-style country-style boneless pork ribs she cooked in the crockpot. The meat was spicy and delicious. She served her portion over leftover spaghetti squash and mine over a baked potato. 

BBQ country-style pork ribs

By the way, you might notice that I updated the WordPress template I use for this blog and it now inserts photos in their full size.

We have a rental car for the weekend that Donna picked up yesterday. She reserved a compact car and ended up with a Mazda Miata hard-top convertible – a nice upgrade! Today we’ll drive up to Menifee and visit with my step-dad, Ken. Ken is 87 years old and he’s getting concerned about his health and whether he might need assistance in the near future. He’s healthy at the moment, but he wants to be prepared. This is a good idea – we’ll make our plans while he is still mentally and physically in good shape. 

Ken created a trust years ago to protect his assets and make sure they are distributed according to his wishes. But he created that trust more than 30 years ago and a lot has changed since then. My friend Dan Cullen is an attorney in San Diego specializing in family law. I intend to have him review the trust documents and we’ll amend or rewrite it as needed. Dan gave me a checklist and a few other documents to go over with Ken and my brother Eddie today. It’s always good to have legal advice from someone you trust.

The weather has been a little cooler this week with highs in the mid-60s although we did reach the 70s on Thursday and Friday. Overnight lows have been around 50 degrees. No complaints here. We made reservations to return in April and we’re discussing our plans for next fall. We only make reservations for long-term stays like when we’re here in San Diego or for the three months we spend in Mesa, Arizona.

Minimalist RV

There’s no right way or wrong way to go about the RV lifestyle. Decisions on how to do it are based on lifestyle, preference and budget mainly. I’ve photographed and written about coaches costing upwards of two million dollars and also small teardrop trailers and even homemade tiny houses built on a trailer.

Most full-timers are either in a motorhome or a fifth-wheel trailer. These offer the most room and storage capability and each has its advantages and disadvantages. Motorhomes generally have more storage space and can tow a vehicle or cargo trailer. Fifth-wheel trailers are usually roomier inside and once the trailer is set up, the tow vehicle can be used for local transportation. Of course that means driving a truck wherever you want to go. Some people have medium- or heavy-duty trucks converted to RV haulers that can also carry a small vehicle such as a Smart car. Our friends Brett Miller and Cheri Alguire started their full-time journey in a fifth-wheel trailer for a few years and recently switched to a class A motorhome.

What brought this subject to mind was a unique set-up in a site near us at Mission Bay RV Resort. It’s a small – I’m guessing 6 x12 or 6 x14 foot – cargo trailer that was converted to living space. Windows were added to each side and to the door along with a fold-out grab-handle by the door.

Cargo trailer conversion

30 amp power connected at the rear

The trailer has a 30-amp power cord so it has electricity, but I didn’t see any provision for fresh water or sewer, so presumably there’s no toilet or shower or sink. This is quite the minimalist set-up.

Tuesday was Sini Schmitt’s birthday. Bill and Sini picked us up around 5:45pm and we drove down to Seaport Village for dinner at Season’s 52 restaurant. Bill’s son Brandon joined us there. We had a great dinner and drinks with good conversation. It was a nice celebration for Sini’s birthday.

I had scallops for dinner at Season’s 52 and then Donna found scallops on sale the next day. I didn’t mind having scallops twice though. She made seared scallops with jalapeno vinaigrette and served them with a butternut squash risotto and cumin-roasted Brussel sprouts.

Scallops with roasted Brussel sprouts

A storm brought rain Wednesday night and it rained all day on Thursday. The temperature stayed in the low 60s and we had the heat pumps running in the morning. Today is sunny and we should see warmer temperatures in the upper 60s. There’s no rain in the forecast for the week ahead.

PEX Project

Winter seemed to arrive in San Diego last week. Monday and Tuesday we had clear skies and the temperature reached the mid-70s. Wednesday’s high was about 10 degrees cooler and the rain that was clobbering the Pacific Northwest slid down the coast and arrived here early Thursday morning. About an inch of rain fell over the next 24 hours. The high temperatures over the weekend only hit the low 60s. Last night, the thermometer dipped under 50 degrees for the first time since we’ve been here – it was 49 degrees. I know for most of the country this weather is nothing to complain about, but it feels chilly to us.

Luckily we had Sini’s car last week while she and Bill were vacationing in Costa Rica. We used the car to go to pickleball on a rainy Thursday. On Thursday evening Donna said she thought the bathroom floor was damp around the toilet. I investigated and found a small drip coming from the mechanism inside the rear of the toilet. Our toilet was a Thetford Aria II Deluxe electrically operated model. This toilet uses electric solenoids to control the water flow to the bowl. The water flows through an impeller that turns in one direction when the left solenoid opens which then turns a worm gear that jacks the blade valve open in the bottom of the bowl. Then the left solenoid closes and the right one opens, reversing the water flow through the impeller housing to close the valve. Water was seeping from the impeller housing.

I checked the housing screws for tightness and they were tight. It was getting late so the only thing I could do was shut off our fresh water supply and deal with it Friday morning. I searched online and found a kit to replace the mechanism and valve – it cost $125. I was leery about installing a new mechanism in a 15-year old toilet. I was afraid that once I started disassembling it, some of the old, brittle plastic parts might break. There are a lot of parts in this model and I also wasn’t all that happy with its performance. The Thetford toilet is noisy – the worm gear makes a loud grinding noise as the jack screw opens and closes the valve. A lot of people complain about the loud operation of this model. It’s also voltage sensitive – when we boondock, if our battery voltage drops below 12.5-volts, the operation of the valve is iffy.

We decided to go out and look for a replacement. First stop was at La Mesa RV in Kearny Mesa. They had a couple of Dometic porcelain bowl toilets but their prices were high and the model we were interested was bone colored, not white. So we went up to San Marcos to the Camping World store. We bought a Dometic 320 porcelain toilet with a foot pedal operated manual valve. My project for the afternoon was to change out the toilets – so I thought.

Removing the old toilet was easy but I didn’t understand why it was mounted with wood screws through the floor. Looking at the mounting flange, I saw there were actually two flanges stacked together. I remembered when we bought the coach, one of items I had on my list of things for the dealer to correct was the seal for the toilet. Apparently their guy just screwed a flange on top of the original one and mounted the toilet with wood screws. The stack of two flanges was too tall for the new toilet. I removed the top flange and found the flange underneath had been glued with PVC cement to the pipe for the black tank. Even worse, it was glued on in the wrong position – the slots for the correct flange mount studs were cocked about 45 degrees from where they should have been – thus the wood screw mounting method.

Fixing this would entail cutting the pipe to the black tank and installing a new length of pipe and flange. I wasn’t equipped for such a project, so I went forward with the wood screw method. I hate doing things this way – it’s totally amateur.

With the new toilet in place, I had to connect the water supply line. I installed a 1/2″ FNPT fitting to the inlet on the foot-operated valve that had a 1/2″ PEX fitting for the water line. This fitting didn’t come with the toilet, I had to make a run to Ace Hardware in Pacific Beach for it. I re-used a 90-degree elbow from the old line and kept the PEX tubing that was attached to it. Once I started to assemble the line, I realized that I should have bought a different PEX to NPT fitting for the valve. Another trip to Pacific Beach. The fitting I bought is called SharkBite. These things are amazing. You can push the PEX tubing into the fitting and it locks in place. No collar, seal or collet needed. The brass fittings are reusable. A special tool – it’s just a plastic horseshoe-shaped device – releases the PEX tubing from the SharkBite fitting. When you push the PEX tube in place, it locks and has a watertight seal. You cannot pull the tube out. Once you push the release tool in place, the PEX tubing slides right out of the fitting.

First NPT to PEX fitting – I replaced it with a 90-degree fitting

I cut the PEX tubing to length and started putting things together. The SharkBite makes it so easy – it’s like building something with a Lego set – just push things together. When I had it done, I turned on the fresh water pump and saw the NPT fitting was leaking. I quickly shut off the pump and then I realized the big mistake I had made. Putting the PEX line together was so easy, I didn’t give a thought to taking it back apart. To get the NPT fitting off to reseal it, I  needed to remove the PEX line. I cut the tubing between the fittings so short, I didn’t allow room to put the removal tool in place to release the SharkBite fittings. By this time, I had been working on what should have been a simple project for hours – between messing with the screwy flange set-up and trips to Ace, I was worn out. I reluctantly told Donna we would have to go another night without water and I would deal with it in the morning. Luckily our site is next to the restroom here at Mission Bay RV Resort.

With a fresh approach Saturday morning, I was able to cut the PEX tubing with a cutter I had bought at Ace and with a little elbow grease and an extra hand from Donna, I got the old PEX out of the SharkBite fittings. Looking at it with a fresh perspective, I realized I didn’t need the old 90-degree elbow I had used. PEX is flexible enough to make up the slight misalignment between the valve and the existing supply line. I just needed to find about a foot-long section of PEX tubing. Home Depot about five miles from here had 1/2″ PEX in five-foot sections. Between the traffic and the zoo that is Home Depot on a Saturday morning, it took me about an hour to get back in business.

Simple supply line set-up

After cutting a section to the length I needed, I had it done in about 10 minutes. I turned on the water pump again. Success! The new toilet flushes noiselessly – it’s nearly silent in operation. We had become so accustomed to the noise from the old one, we could hardly believe how quiet the new one is. So, my quick toilet replacement turned out to be a full day’s work instead of an hour or so, but now it’s job done.

Dometic 320 – job done!

Donna took Sini’s car to pick up Sini and Bill at the airport in the afternoon and they dropped her off on their way home. For dinner that night, she made something new – roasted chicken thighs with fennel and lemon. She served it with cauliflower risotto and steamed spinach. It was a simple and delicious meal and she made enough for leftovers tonight.

Dinner

On Sunday morning, Donna was up early. She had volunteered to hand out finisher medals for a Girls on the Run 5K race. She ran over to the start/finish line in Crown Point (about two miles from here) and then ran back afterward. She’s been volunteering for this organization for a few years now. Last year, she and Sini were course marshalls for the run and Donna also did several hours of data entry.

I forgot to mention that Donna and I decided to ride over to Deft Brewing Saturday for happy hour. It’s a new small brewery with a nice selection of very tasty European style craft beers. We returned to Mission Bay just in time to catch a gorgeous sunset.

De Anza Cove sunset

The forecast calls for highs in the mid 60s and we might have rain again on Wednesday.